Black Narcissus

Movie Information

In Brief: Sensuality and spirituality collide in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's hyperstylized melodrama Black Narcissus (1947) in a way that few other filmmakers could have balanced so deftly. While it may arguably fall short of other Powell/Pressburger pictures, such as The Red Shoes (1948) or I Know Where I'm Going (1947), Black Narcissus represents the duo at the height of their powers and boasts a devastating performance from star Deborah Kerr and some remarkable soundstage sleight-of-hand from cinematographer Jack Cardiff. It's a moving picture about human failings, and its subtle commentary on colonialism makes it one of Powell and Pressburger's most surreptitiously political films, granting it a psychological and sociological scope that rank it high amongst the team's canon.

About Scott Douglas

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